Technology

Food Relief Assignment

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Note: This post is from a previous blog about teaching technology at an all girls school.  That blog was entitled “Girls. Technology. Action!” and ran during 2008.

After racking my brain for an assignment that would appeal to girls’ desire to help people and have a real world application of their work, I assigned the Food Relief Calculator program.  The girls created a class called person and then inherited classes for children vs. adults.  They did research to figure out how much food and water a person of that age/weight class needed in one day.  They then used a program with an ArrayList to enter the people in a village and then to calculate how much food and water the relief agency would need to send in for them.  It wasn’t a bad assignment, but I still think that I might be able to find a better one for next year.

Challenging Myself

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Note: This post is from a previous blog about teaching technology at an all girls school.  That blog was entitled “Girls. Technology. Action!” and ran during 2008.

In her keynote at the NCGS STEM Think Tank, Dr. Stacey Kline noted that

Many young women choose science because they want to help people, animals and the earth and they want to be connected to the objects of study. It is important that science curriculum allow girls to make these connections.

Since then, I’ve been asking myself, how can I apply this to teaching AP Computer Science. Right now, my students are coming to the end of a unit on Inheritance. I want to design an end of unit programming project that incorporates all of the programming skills needed and meets the requirement of helping people, animals, or the earth. Most programming examples to demonstrate inheritance focus on HR databases or on a hierarchy of mechanical devices. I’m trying to think of examples that seem to be more based in an actual reality, but that could be the basis for a program that does something helpful. Wish me luck.

godaddy.com and this year’s Super Bowl ad

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Note: This post is from a previous blog about teaching technology at an all girls school.  That blog was entitled “Girls. Technology. Action!” and ran during 2008.

When will the advertisers and executives at godaddy.com learn?  Women design websites.  Women own domain names.  Women buy web hosting.  In case there is any doubt, let’s visit the statistics.  This moment, The Center for Women’s Business Research, reports that 10.4 million firms in the US are considered “women owned.”  Among women who own businesses, 83% are “personally involved in selecting and purchasing technology” for their businesses.

Taking all of this into account, I can’t figure out why godaddy.com keeps trying to use breasts to sell web services.   Just last month, I had to select a web services provider from which to buy two SSL certificates.  Godaddy.com was the cheapest option, but they aren’t interested in my money – I’m a woman.  I refuse to fund this company and encourage you to withhold your funds as well.  If we want young women to consider careers in technology, this type of company sets us back and mocks our goals.   Let me be clear, my issue here is not with the use of sex to sell a product.  My issue is that godaddy.com blatantly ignores the fact that women could be their customers.  So, I won’t be one of theirs.  Digicert, here I come with my business and credit card!